The Rebecca Principle, as applied to V-Day

[snorkackcatcher]

There's a classic throwaway scenelet from Cheers that goes something like this.

Sam: Rebecca, why do you hate rich people so much?
Rebecca (crossly): I hate rich people because I am poor. When I become rich, I will stop hating rich people and start hating poor people. It's the American Way!
*exit stage left to storm of applause from live studio audience*

I think we can safely say this is a principle that is capable of wider application. How about: I hate Valentine's Day because I am single. When I become not-single^(*), I will stop hating Valentine's Day and start hating people who hate Valentine's Day.

I think this is everyone's way. :D

(*) Not that this is going to happen or anything, but we're talking in principle here.

Comments

[lucie-p.livejournal.com]

LOL

Am I weird, then, for being not-single and still hating Valentine's Day?

(To be true, my hate stems solely from the fact that we never celebrated that day around here until the German advertising industry began thrusting it upon us. So you could say I hate it because IT is the American Way ...)

[snorkackcatcher]

Apparently you're not weird. :) Mind you, it does seem to be an English tradition too -- I think the earliest one in English was about 1450 or so (well, a letter, not a card).

[lucie-p.livejournal.com]

True, but the ad industry here would never have "adopted" it if it weren't American. We now have V-Day and Halloween and Father's Day ads (at the appropriate time) and they act as if all those had always been "celebrated" here. Ugh!

[jdbracknell.livejournal.com]

I'm not single, and I loathe Valentine's Day. I can't understand what's supposed to be romantic about an obligation.

I also hate Mother's Day.

Maybe I'm just churlish.

[snorkackcatcher]

You're not alone in being a churl though. :)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I detest Valentine's Day, in spite of having someone who I'm sure would give me tasteless expensive crap if I demanded it. You're not alone.

[snorkackcatcher]

He would? That's good -- it's the thought that counts or something?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Better still, if I tell him not to waste his money, he won't.

Last year I witnessed the biggest outdoor row I've ever seen on Valentine's day. She yelled at him for a good 15 minutes, before hurling a card at him and storming off.

[tree_and_leaf]

Personally, I will be raising a private glass to Saints Cyril and Methodius, inventors of Cyrillic and hence ultimately creators of Old Church Slavonic as a literary language, who I think can be appreciated by all translators, regardless of faith...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Now that's my kind of saint!

[maple-clef.livejournal.com]

For me, it's not even about being single or not; it's the obligation to be romantic! Totally anti-romantic. And completely commercial...

[snorkackcatcher]

These days, anyway. :)

[sparkly-stuff.livejournal.com]

So true. I am chronically single and seeing ads/merchandise for V-Day everywhere makes me want to vomit. Although the few times I haven't been single in February, Valentine's day just adds up to a lot of stress and wasting money for no reason. It's easily one of the stupidest "holidays" ever invented.

I like that quote about rich people though, it's true. It also makes me think of how I hate kids, yet whenever I tell this to anyone older than me I basically hear "wait till you have your own! You'll change and you'll love your children and hate anyone who hates children!!!1!" Except, if I hate kids, why should I have any? Ugh.

[snorkackcatcher]

I guess that's why the quote got such applause. :) (And why it stuck in my memory.) I don't exactly relate well to kids either, at least not until they're old enough to have a reasonable conversation with -- which can be awkward when I meet friends or relatives and can think of absolutely nothing to say!

[parthenia14.livejournal.com]

I hate Valentine's Day and I'm married. It's so fake and manufactured.

I like Mother's Day though. God knows what that means.

[snorkackcatcher]

Fair enough. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Actually, I didn't much like V-Day when I was in a serious relationship. I tend to get grumpy at obligatory fun... (I conclude from this that if I weren't a Christian, I would be a total grump about Christmas).

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm, I suspect I may have a tendency towards grouchiness about Fun Things too - at least when there is a high level of hyper-ness of the people concerned.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

(I conclude from this that if I weren't a Christian, I would be a total grump about Christmas)

Nah. Christmas, unlike Valentine's Day etc. is actually genuinely enjoyable.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I never hated Valentine's Day when I was single and I don't hate it now. I don't like it, either. Both liking and hating it implies caring about it, which I just don't understand why anyone does. I've never celebrated it, never felt an obligation to celebrate it. It pretty much passes me by unnoticed except for occasionally buying candy on sale and hearing people on my flist bitch about it.

[snorkackcatcher]

That sounds like a remarkably balanced view. Are you supposed to do that on Livejournal? :)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I feel more or less the same way. It simply doesn't impact on me. But it wasn't made a big thing when I was at school, which may be one reason I haven't been scarred for life.

I too like the reduced-price heart-shaped chocolates.

[jesspallas.livejournal.com]

I despise it with an unholy passion because it is both hideously commercial and a reminder of my near-terminal state of singleness. I consider it an insult to single people everywhere! Mind you, I'm not alone - all of the halves of couples that I work with loathe it too, especially the boys who regard it more as a trap and filled with potential disaster than anything else.

And of you want a proper name for this principle when applied to Valentines, how about the Charlie Brown Principle? He hated Valentines day because he never recieved any cards right up until the moment he got one. ;p

[snorkackcatcher]

Yes indeed.

Charlie Brown got a Valentine!?!Who from? Maybe that can be the name for this specific application of the principle. :)

[jesspallas.livejournal.com]

I think it was someone else's reject Valentine, possibly Lucy! But he didn't care, bless him...;p